Police offer tips as bike theft rises in Reno

RENO, Nev. (MyNews4.com & KRNV) -- July and August are popular months for bike thieves in Reno. So the Reno Police Department is encouraging owners to not only lock up bikes, but to document serial numbers.

If your bike is stolen and ends up with police, the only way you can get it back is by giving them a bicycle serial number. Officers said they cannot just give you a bike because you say it is yours. "I would love if that was the case, I mean we wouldn’t have any bikes in storage right now,” said Officer Tim Broadway.

Broadway said the number of stolen bikes has doubled in Reno within the last few months, compared to the rest of the year. "Well right now, we have over 90 bicycles in Reno Police Department evidence storage. A large percentage of those are stolen, some of them are for safe keeping."

Those bikes will eventually be auctioned, unless they are claimed. So if your bike is stolen, Broadway said you have to know what your serial number is to get it back. "There are five different places on bikes to look at serial numbers, do your research when you buy the bike."

Locals said they did not know their bikes even had serial numbers, but eventually found them under the crank. They told us they will write that number down. "I think it’s nice there is a serial number so you can attempt to get it back if it’s stolen you can identify it,” said Maurice Underwood.

"Yeah absolutely, if I lose it, I want to get it back,” said Ryan Taylor.

To limit the chances of having your bike stolen, police want to remind everyone to lock them up. "Carrying thick chains, cables, locks, obviously the heavier the bike, the better workout you’re going to get, but also the better you’re going to be able to secure it from getting stolen," said Broadway.

Broadway said there is not one specific factor to determine the increase of bike thieves during the summer, but he said the warmer weather keeps people outside longer, which could contribute.